Bringing power to circuit cards mounted in racks or card cages always presents problems from the standpoint of accessibility of the cards. Where the cards are mounted in card edge connectors on a back panel, heavy duty contacts in the card edge connectors transfer power from the panel to the cards. In the absence of card edge connectors or the like, it has been the practice in the field to jury-rig means for energizing the cards. In one such instance, three elongated rods are employed with the rods spaced from each other and supported, one over the other, by frames. One end of each rod is threaded to be received in a threaded contact pad in a back panel. The other end of each rod has a hex head for turning the rod with a wrench. Aligned straps, mounted on the rods adjacent the threaded end are forced against the contact pad for electrical connection therewith when the rods are threaded into holes in the pad centers. The straps, having pins on the free ends for being received and secured in holes in the card, and the card cannot turn with the rods. This requirement forced the rods to be loosely passed through holes in the straps with stop means, e.g. a nut on the rod behind the strap, to force the straps against the contact pads as the rods are threaded thereinto. Further, the upper two rods must pass through the straps extending up from the lowest and middle positioned rods. Thus, in order to electrically isolate a strap, the rods must be nonconductive or rubber bushings must be positioned in the holes in the straps. As is apparent, the above-described power system includes a large number of components, is awkward to use, and cannot be easily modified. Further, the power system is not readily movable with a card attached thereto.
It is therefore desirable to provide an electrical connector which would be simple to install and use, have few components which are inexpensively made, have versatility, and can be moved with ease with an attached card.